The domestic violence charity Refuge could face closure this summer amid funding cuts of 50%, its chief executive has warned.

The charity, which supports 1,600 women and children, has seen funds decimated and is now "fighting for our very survival", Sandra Horley said.

She spoke out after reports that hundreds of domestic violence victims are being turned away from women's refuges every day because of a lack of spaces.

The Guardian revealed earlier this year that funding from local authorities to organisations working with domestic-violence and victims of sexual abuse fell from £7.8m in 2010-11 to £5.4m in the current financial year.

The cuts have prompted accusations that the coalition's austerity measures are unfairly affecting women, and putting them directly at risk.

Horley said: "As CEO of Refuge for nearly three decades, I have never been so worried about our future.

"The domestic violence sector is being decimated. Refuge is stretched to breaking point. We are now fighting for our very survival, desperately trying to raise voluntary funds to keep our doors open. If we don't do this by the summer, we may face closure.

"What kind of a world do we live in where women and children are beaten and funding for services to protect them is being withdrawn? Britain is in danger of returning to the days of Cathy Come Home when the vulnerable were forced to sleep rough. Abused women could find themselves in a dilemma: stay at home and risk being killed or flee with their children to sleep on the streets."

Horley also questioned the government's intention to introduce Clare's law – a new disclosure scheme which enables women to request information from the police about their partner's previous convictions.

She said the domestic violence sector did not support the initiative and she believed funding would be better invested in improving the basic police response to domestic violence, "which is still extremely poor in forces across the country".

Last year two refuges, looking after women from ethnic-minority backgrounds, were closed. Official estimates suggested there were 400,000 incidents of domestic violence in the UK last year.

Around 230 women seeking refuge from abusive partners were turned away because of lack of spaces every day, campaigners said.

Earlier this year, Lynne Featherstone, the Home Office minister for equality, denied there was a crisis in the domestic violence support sector.

She said: "I would rebut very firmly that the sector is in crisis, this government is putting its best foot forward and is committed to ending violence against women and girls".

But Vivienne Hayes, the chief executive of the Women's Resource Centre, which represents 350 small charities and community groups, said: "Government cuts have impacted more negatively on women than men. You have to wonder whether this is a case of institutional sexism."